Jan Thiel Bay – Curaçao.

The Linus and the cork.

Evening of the 21st of April. Sonja is packing the bag for the next day. She’s on Curacao with her husband and two kids for her brother’s wedding. They planed to go daytripping on a boat to Klein Curacao the next morning. Towels, suncream, snorkel gear, swimmies, clothing for the kids, water, a book … bottel SL_0008. And of course a cork to seal it.

The alarm goes of early, but that’s alright because everyone is excited. Especially Sonja and her six years old son Linus. They brought the letter all the way from Germany, now on their way back from Klein Curacao to Curacao it was time to finally send it off traveling. Everything is ready. Linus is fiddling the message into the bottle – a classical carribean Flor de Caña rum. Sonja is searching for the cork. It’s all perfect, they are in the middle of the two islands. Niko is getting the camera ready. Sonja is searching in the left corner of the bag. Searching in the right corner of the bag. Searching in the side pockets. Slightly hectic now. Searching the boat. Now everyone’s searching for the cork. Even Leia, the little one, is down on her knees. But no cork. Nowhere. Disappointment. Linus get’s mad. Angry and young tempered he shouts at Sonja for forgetting the cork. Uncensored. Niko cools everyone down while he’s looking for a substitute they could close the bottle with. Nada. They go home, the bottle un-thrown. Sonja feels terribly bad, old and forgetful.

Breakfast the next morning. The family in sitting on the terrace, enjoying another day in sunny paradise. Linus, daydreaming and recapturing his last adventures, is all of a sudden remembering: “Mum! I know where the cork is! … It’s in the car! I’ve been playing with it on the way to the boat!” Sonja stunned. Sonja angry. Shortly. Sonja happy for not being forgetful. Or old. “Sorry, I forgot.” Linus apologises.

After breakfast they go down to the beach and together they swim out into the ocean to send the bottle SL_0008 on it’s journey. Thank you so much you two! For participating, and for this lovely anecdote.

To see where and when SL_0008 was finally put into the water check out the MAP.

Welcome

My name is Nina and I’m from Hamburg in Germany.
Two of my biggest passions are photography and cooking.
In 2012 I started distributing messages in bottles wherever there was a river, lake or ocean, hoping to gather new recipes from all over the world.
This blog is the project website, to keep you informed and updated about the progress. The aim is to publish a cook book from this collection. If you want to help, get in touch.